BANGOR – Maine Public Broadcasting Network has proposed consolidating its two operations on Texas Avenue into one building, but officials reinforced that no jobs would be lost, nor does the change indicate a pullout from the city.

MPBN presented to employees Thursday the plan to relocate the roughly 25 employees who work at 65 Texas Ave. to 63 Texas Ave., said David Morse, MPBN vice president for marketing, communications and government relations, and trustee emeritus. About 25 other employees now work at 63 Texas Ave. Morse said MPBN hopes to make the plan final in a month and have the relocation complete by June 30.

Within the next 18 months MPBN also is looking to transfer about a dozen Bangor jobs to Lewiston, Morse said.

“So far the response from the staff and the union has been very positive,” he said. “People do recognize that a dozen jobs may eventually move to Lewiston, and they do recognize this will make the organization more efficient, financially secure and competitive.”

When MPBN was created in 1992, the Legislature agreed to pay to distribute the network’s signal around the state, which at the time cost about $2.2 million, Morse said. Now it costs between $3.2 million and 3.5 million, but the state has not increased its payment, he said. In addition, MPBN lost about $800,000 in federal and private local money this year when funding expired. So the organization decided to find ways to consolidate and conserve, he said.

“With significant amounts of unutilized space in both our Lewiston and Bangor locations, and factoring in soaring costs for oil and electricity that will likely continue to rise, it became increasingly clear that maintaining two buildings in Bangor was not in the long-term best interest,” President and CEO Jim Dowe said in a press release.

Despite MPBN officials’ assurances than no jobs will be lost, employees are nervous, said Dave Sharpe, an employee and president of the Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. Employee Association, the local chapter of the Maine Education Association, the employees’ union.

“We do have a main concern about layoffs, we really do,” said Sharpe. “We have concerns down the road [as to] what is the big picture. We are heavily dependent on state funding.”

Sharpe also said that two people from the University of Maine System came to look at the soon-to-be vacated Texas Avenue building. University College Bangor has a large presence in that area of Bangor and could be looking to lease the building, he said.

The consolidation of the two Bangor operations will save nearly $900,000 over the next five years, according to a press release. MPBN’s annual budget is about $12 million. But jobs and a total closure of the Bangor operation are not on the chopping block, Morse said.

“We are not looking at shutting Bangor down,” he said, noting that it is the organization’s technology center. “We are not even contemplating that.”

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